The Boys' Weekend...

Well, I finally took a weekend off work, my first in 6 months, and went on an overnight tramp with some mates...

We started off from Hamilton in the early hours and spent the morning fishing in the Tongariro River, which is famous for its trout...

Despite seeing quite a few fish in the river, we didn't catch a thing. - but then it was midday. Not having time to stay for a twilight fish we carried on south towards Tongariro, parked up, and set out on the Urchin Trail up over the Kaimanawa Ranges.

Dominated by the Kaimanawa mountain ranges, the Kaimanawa Forest Park encompasses a vast (77,348 hectares) largely unmodified expanse of native forest, shrublands and tussock grasslands. It was gazetted in 1969 and is managed to protect and conserve soil and water, native vegetation, wildlife and scenic values.

It lies south-east of Taupo and extends from Tongariro National Park in the west to the Kaweka Ranges in the east.

It was a blisteringly hot day.

Below: Lake Taupo in the distance, from the first summit.
The trail starts near to lake level.

It then winds its way up through stunning native bush...

before breaking out of the bushline into rocky alpine terrain...

from the first summit we hiked over the ranges below...

to the Waipakihi Valley river flats below...

After a long day's tramping, and a futile effort at stalking deer on the river flats, we settled down to a roaring camp fire and a rough meal of Fillet Mignon with seasonal vegetables and a bottle of Shiraz before scoffing down some creme brulee and settling in for a night of port and cigars under a cloudless sky enblazoned with stars (talk about slumming it!).

We forgot the marshmellows though!

The state forest is home to much wildlife, including Sika deer

and wild horses, known as Kaimanawa horses, which are protected.

for more information visit the Department of Conservation website.

Cows and Cattle...

We collected some more Hereford calves last weekend. My uncle had been rearing them for us on his farm in Te Pahu.

Introducing Bertha, Daisy, Doris and Mavis...

Above and Below: Edward shows interest in the newcomers.

One day they would grow up to look like these beasts below, except that Edward and Bella will be going on a very very long holiday next April.

For more information visit the official English Hereford site: http://www.herefordcattle.org/index.php. I love Herefords Alas, many of the other traditional breeds of cows and cattle have gone by the by over the last century due to their lack of suitability for commercial farming...

I love the cow prints above, posted at Brabourne Farm.

Here are some individual prints of different varieties...

Everything's a box of fluffy ducks...

Apologies for the silent treatment of late. Work has been all consuming, and so has the business side of getting the build started (still on target for next month). We have been busy boxing up the house, redressing the rooms, and getting the gardens in order before we put our villa on the market. However, I do have one small piece of breaking news...

You may recall our post on Indian Runners a little while ago. We were expecting we would re-home some adult ducks, but instead we have come into five of the cutest ducklings...

We have constructed a brutally functional Stalag 13 for the ducklings at the park until they get their bearings, but then they will be on their way, free-ranging with the rest of the menagerie.